Microsoft SMB Community Blog

Microsoft Silverlight information and resources for you

2009-11-20T18:30:35Z

For those of you that followed PDC09 this week, one of the announcements you heard about is the availability of the Silverlight 4 developer beta, which is now available. Since then, there has been even more communications and excitement around Silverlight and the rich experiences it can bring to life. Seeing this trend taking place, I thought I would take a moment to put together some Silverlight resources for you, in case you are looking for more information about Silverlight. Please note, this list is not fully-inclusive, just a quick list of some that I thought would may be helpful for you:

Silverlight community blogs - Updates from our MVP community
Silverlight Blogs
- Here are some who will be providing more updates to Silverlight 4 Beta:
Get help from the Silverlight.net Forums
- Help From the Silverlight 4 Beta Forums
Silverlight community site
Silverlight Toolkit
Get Started with Silverlight
Silverlight News RSS Feed
Silverlight online video tutorials collection
Silverlight Community samples
Silverlight 4 Beta Hands On Labs
Silverlight 4 Beta videos
Silverlight Quickstarts
Silverlight Whitepapers
Silverlight Books

I hope these resources and sources of information are helpful for you in your quest to learn more about and begin/continue developing with Microsoft Silverlight.

By the way, be sure to check out the Winter Olympics live and on-demand in HD & with Live Smooth Streaming with Silverlight.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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SharePoint 2010 beta available for download now – Announced at PDC09 today!

2009-11-18T19:29:27Z

In my earlier post, “Microsoft Office 2010 Beta available for download – Announced at PDC09 today!,” I told you that the Microsoft Office 2010 beta program was announced and is now available for download. Well, just as exciting was the announcement that in addition to the Microsoft Office 2010 beta now becoming available, the SharePoint 2010 beta was also announced and is available for download today. SharePoint continues to be one of the most exciting and hottest solutions around and now is your chance to try out the beta of the new 2010 version!

In addition to downloading and trying out the new SharePoint 2010 beta, be sure to check out the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 site where you can find even more information and resources about this exciting new release, such as:

Sneak Peek overview video
IT Professional video
Developer video
SharePoint 2010 system requirements
“Get Ready” tips for IT Pros and Developers looking to move to SharePoint 2010
FAQs
and much more…

If you want to read more about the announcement, you can do so at the Microsoft Press Pass announcement page for the Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010, and Project 2010 Betas.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Microsoft Office 2010 Beta available for download – Announced at PDC09 today!

2009-11-18T18:44:42Z

Earlier this year, we announced the Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview program for testers to participate in and since then, a popular topic and question has been, “When will the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta be available for download?” Well, the answer to that question has been announced and that answer is NOW! Today at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) Microsoft unveiled the public beta of Office 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010, Office Web Apps for businesses and Office Mobile 2010.

According to Kurt DelBene, senior vice president of the Office Business Productivity Group at Microsoft, “We’re excited to announce the public beta of the 2010 versions of Office, SharePoint Server, Visio, Project and Office Web Apps for business customers. Office Mobile 2010 has also reached the beta milestone. Starting today people can download the beta products online HERE.”

We are hoping to have millions of people download and test the products, as we depend on that feedback to shape the final product. To get the broadest range of feedback we are making this beta available in seven languages — English, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, French and German — more than any other Office beta program in the past.

In addition, Office Mobile 2010 is also now available in beta, making the Office experience across the PC, phone and browser a reality. Office Mobile 2010 includes mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and new SharePoint Workspace Mobile 2010, and is available worldwide in Windows Marketplace for Mobile for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones.

If you want to read more about the announcement, you can do so at the Microsoft Press Pass announcement page for the Office 2010 Beta.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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What desktop operating systems qualify for the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade through Volume Licensing?

2009-11-10T15:54:43Z

A short while ago, I put up my, “What versions of Windows qualify for the Windows 7 Retail Box upgrade?” post here on the blog and received this follow-up question shortly afterwards, “Ok, I see what qualifies for the Retail Box Windows 7 Upgrade, but what about the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade through Volume Licensing?” That is a great question and on I have not posted about since we did so in the Windows Vista time. So let’s take a look at what qualifies for the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Upgrade through Microsoft’s Volume Licensing programs, such as Open License, Open Value, Select, and Enterprise Agreement. Here is the answer to this question, as well as where you can find it in the future.

Let’s start with where you can find this answer today and in the future. For our Volume Licensing programs, there are a couple resources you should be aware of:

Product Use Rights (PUR) document - When a product license is purchased through a Microsoft Volume Licensing program, the Product Use Rights (PUR) and the Volume Licensing program agreement contain product-specific terms and conditions for how the software can be used. The PUR is updated quarterly. The PUR in effect as of the beginning of the licensed period for a particular product version applies to the use of that product version throughout the licensed period.
Product List for Volume Licensing - Published monthly, the Microsoft Product List for Volume Licensing provides information about Microsoft software and Microsoft Online Services acquired through Volume Licensing programs. This document includes:
- Availability of new products
- Discontinuation of products
- Available promotions
- Point values
- Product migration paths
- Software Assurance benefits
- Other notes and information specific to products
- Appendices for special terms, Software Assurance renewals, and programs

You can access both of the documents above at the “About Licensing” page. Inside the Product List, there is a section that talks about the Windows 7 Professional Upgrades included in Volume Licensing and inside that section is the following chart that shows what the qualifying desktop Operating System licenses are to qualify for the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade through Microsoft’s Volume Licensing programs:

- Click to view full size

Find the version of Windows you have today down the left-hand side and then you can see which Microsoft Volume License programs that qualifies for the Windows 7 Professional upgrade in (you’ll see an “X” in the columns of the programs you qualify for). Since there are several abbreviations above for the various licensing programs, let me try to clarify those:

New EA: – This is a new Enterprise Agreement
New OV-CW: This is a new Open Value Company-wide agreement
Existing EA/OV-CW: An existing Enterprise Agreement or Open Value Company-wide agreement
Select: Select & Select Plus
Open (All except academic and OV-CW): Open License & Open Value (all non-company-wide)
Academic

There is one point to remember when purchasing Microsoft Windows licensing through Volume Licensing, the only way to purchase a full Windows Desktop Operating System License is through either OEM or Retail Box. All Windows licenses sold through any Volume Licensing program is an Upgrade only, not a full Windows license. This is nothing new and has been the case for well over a decade.

I hope this helps answer your questions on what qualifies for the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade through the Microsoft Volume Licensing programs, as well as where you can find this answer in the future.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Exchange Server 2010 announced today – Resources and information for Partners

2009-11-09T17:26:57Z

Today at Tech-Ed Europe 2009, Stephen Elop announced the launch of Exchange Server 2010, which is a very exciting offering for customers and Partners around the world. On the Microsoft Partner Portal, we have a collection of information at resources for our Microsoft Partners on the Exchange Server 2010 page, including:

Three steps to Partner Readiness:

Learn about Exchange Server 2010
- Watch the webcast - with Senior Technical Product Manager Ian Hameroff to learn about new features and technologies in Exchange Server 2010.
- Experience the new efficiency launch event - virtually and learn how innovations in Exchange Server 2010, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft Forefront security offer familiar, integrated solutions that help you address cost, innovation, and productivity challenges.
Prepare to Sell and Support Exchange Server 2010
- Sales Professionals: Complete the Online Sales Training - Learn how to effectively market and license Exchange Server 2010 with this 60-minute, 100-level online tutorial that covers new features, functions, and benefits.
- IT Pros: Take the Exchange Ignite Beta Technical Training - Get hands-on labs online, covering topics such as architecture, setup, deployment, tools, migration, security, transport, unified messaging, governance, archiving, storage, and high availability.
Drive Your Exchange Server Marketing Efforts
- Joint Launch in a Box - Use these resources to build launch momentum for your solutions focused on unified communications—messaging, voice, and video—across the applications and devices that your customers use every day

Links to download and install the trial of the software
Additional resources, including:

Technical presentations:

Overview
ActiveSync
Archiving and Retention
Archiving and Retention
Presentation Template
High Availability
Information Protection and Compliance
Management Tools
Outlook Web Access
Unified Messaging

Technical Videos and Webcasts:

Exchange Online
Introducing Exchange Server 2010
Addressing E-mail Archiving with Exchange Server 2010
Exchange 2010 Upgrade and Deployment
Exchange 2010 High Availability
Exchange Server 2010: Mobility and Exchange
Introducing Outlook Web Apps in Exchange 2010
Voice Mail with Unified Messaging in Exchange 2010
Protection and Compliance with Exchange 2010
Storage in Exchange Server 2010
Management Tools in Exchange Server 2010Web Access
Managing Exchange with System Center

Marketing Materials

Data Sheet
Ignite Poster
Try the Beta Poster
E-mail Event Invite Template
E-mail Sales Template
E-mail Thank You Template
4.125"×9.5" Envelope Template
6"×8" Envelope Template
Sales Event Invite
Sales Letter
Sales Offer Card
Web Banner Ad Template
T-shirt and Thumb Drive Templates

Sales Readiness and Resources

Unified Communications Sales Training Featuring Exchange Server 2010 (Online Tutorial)
Unified Communications Sales Training Featuring Exchange Server 2010 (Sales Seminar)
Selling Microsoft Exchange to Small and Medium Business Customers (Online Tutorial)
Selling Microsoft Exchange to Small and Medium Business Customers (Sales Seminar)
BPIO U 2010: Selling Unified Communications
Partner Profitability Modeler Tool
Business Value Assessment Tool
Demo Showcase

And more!

Head on out to the Exchange Server 2010 page page on the Microsoft Partner Network site to start accessing this information today, if you haven’t already.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Windows Server 2008 R2 training course for developers on Channel 9 today

2009-11-09T16:12:38Z

Today, Channel 9 launches the Windows Server 2008 R2 Training Course for Developers. Channel 9 has always been about giving Developers insight into new Microsoft platform technologies. The Channel 9 Learning Center extends that objective with self-paced learning experiences.

Windows Server 2008 R2, “Not your average R2!”

Explore this significant Windows Server release via a self-paced training course of videos and hands-on-labs with a focus on performance, web, management, and other server solution scenarios. Learn about developing applications for “many-core” scale, enable efficient “trigger-started” services, explore new Windows PowerShell features, create integrated solutions with the File Classification Infrastructure, build Web Platform extensions, and automate your dev-test environment with VHD and Hyper-V API’s.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Microsoft launches Community Connections – Connecting Partners, customers, and organizations with Windows 7

2009-11-09T14:54:00Z

For those of you that attended SMB Nation in Las Vegas, you may have heard the announcement of Community Connections made by Dave Waldrop, a fantastic opportunity to bring together Microsoft Partners with customers and Local Business Community Organizations interested in learning about Microsoft Windows 7, with a very exciting offer to bring it together. Here are the details of what Community Connections is and what it means for you:

Community Connections is an offer that brings together local Microsoft Partners with Local Business Community Organizations (LBCO), such as a Chamber of Commerce, to help them get access to Windows 7 and services from local Microsoft Partners to assist them do their Windows 7 installations. Community Connections provides:

Two (2) free copies of Windows 7 for the LBCO
$150 services voucher to be applied to the installation of Windows at the LBCO by a local Microsoft Partner
Assistance from the Microsoft Local Engagement Team to conduct live Windows 7 events with local Microsoft Partners – event materials, product offers, and funding
$150 services voucher to be applied to the installation of Windows 7 at the customer’s location by a local Microsoft Partner

So what exactly is a Local Business Community Organization (LBCO)?

Eligible organizations: Non-profit 501(c) 3’s, 4’s, and 6’s: Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, Business Leagues, and Diversity organizations
Non-eligible organizations: Government funded agencies, schools, non-business community organizations

In essence, the way Community Connections works is:

An LBCO signs up for Community Connections and chooses a local Microsoft Partner to work with. The LBCO receives two (2) copies of Windows 7 and a $150 services voucher. The LBCO uses the $150 services voucher with the local Microsoft Partner to help pay for the installation of the Windows 7 software they received. The LBCO and local Microsoft Partner then host an event for local businesses about Windows 7 using resources provided by the Microsoft Local Engagement Team. Businesses who attend the event and purchase qualifying Windows 7 upgrades through Volume Licensing afterwards can then register to receive a $150 services voucher to use with the local Microsoft Partner to help pay for their Windows 7 installation.

Ready to find out more? Microsoft Partners should head out to the Microsoft Local Engagement Toolkit page (see screenshot below), view the recorded session (#1) and encourage LBCO’s in your area to view the Live Meeting from November 3^rd (#2). Then connect with your LBCO’s and have them register to participate in Microsoft Community Connections (#3).

- Click to see full-size

This offer is a limited-time offer, so be sure to get out to the Microsoft Local Engagement Toolkit page and get started with the Community Connections program today. Community Connections, another way Microsoft is investing in our Partners to help you be successful.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Support for Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 R2 coming

2009-11-06T19:21:25Z

Just a quick update for you about a topic that some of you have raised. In case you did not see it, the Microsoft Exchange Team announced earlier this week that based on the feedback we have received, the decision has been made to create and issue an update for Exchange 2007 enabling full support for Windows Server 2008 R2. According to the Microsoft Exchange Team’s blog post:

“Earlier this year we made a decision in one direction, and due to the feedback we have received on this blog and elsewhere, we have reconsidered. In the coming calendar year we will issue an update for Exchange 2007 enabling full support of Windows Server 2008 R2.”

Kevin Allison - GM Exchange Customer Experience

For those of you doing work with Microsoft Exchange Server, you may want to sign up to follow the Microsoft Exchange Server Team Blog for the latest news from them, in addition to being able to provide feedback to us on Microsoft Exchange.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
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The Big Easy Partner Subsidy Program is back!

2009-11-05T22:42:45Z

I am very happy to be able to let you know that for a limited time, that the Big Easy offer is back in the U.S. and Canada! That’s right, from now through January 2, 2010, when your customers make a qualifying purchase of Microsoft technologies and submit their redemption request, Microsoft will send the customer a check (made out to you) for funds to help pay for your services as a Microsoft Partner! As was the case with previous releases of the Big Easy promotion, your clients can increase the amount of the Partner subsidy they receive in the following ways:

Purchase products from more than one product group. For instance, by purchasing qualifying Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows Server licenses at the same time, they would receive a higher subsidy for each of those products vs. purchasing them separately.
Licenses with Software Assurance – Acquiring licenses with Software Assurance instead of just licenses increases the subsidy amount for each one.
Advanced or Enterprise Editions – The Advanced and Enterprise Editions of the products qualify for higher subsidy amounts than non Advanced or Enterprise Editions

Want to see what products are included in the Big Easy promotion? Take a look at the Included Product list on the Microsoft Incentives page. The team even posted a short video that you can watch to see how the Big Easy works. You can find all of the information on the Big Easy Offer, including an online calculator so you can see what your subsidy amount would be for various customer opportunities, on the Big Easy Offer page. For our Microsoft Partners in Canada, you will want to check out the Canadian Big Easy Offer page.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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Check out the new Microsoft Partner Network Community website!

2009-11-05T16:02:55Z

A couple years back, we introduced the Digital WPC site, providing a way for Partners around the world to join us for our WPC07 in Denver. The feedback was fantastic from Partners, so we have expanded it each year since. Now, Digital WPC makes a new transformation to bring you even more great information, resources, and connection, year round. Announcing the Microsoft Partner Network Community website!

Here you will be able to see hot topics, blogs, information, Twitter feeds, resources, and much more around the Microsoft Partner Network and from your peers around the world. So what are you waiting for? Head over to the new Microsoft Partner Network Community website, check it out, and let us know what you think. Also, we’re still looking for your input on the Microsoft Partner Network Portal as well: A new Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal experience is coming soon. Give us your input.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
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The New MSN Homepage with the best of Bing, social network access and more

2009-11-04T19:27:53Z

Today we launched a significant redesign of MSN to bring you a much better, richer, and easier experience with the information that is most interesting to you. The new MSN homepage offers a fresh new look that brings the best of Bing, the latest news and entertainment and instant access to social networks and comprehensive local information all in one place. You can check it out now at http://preview.msn.com.

So what are these new enhancements and improvements? Here is just a glimpse of some of the new features you can begin enjoying today:

The Best of Search from Bing

Bing is deeply integrated throughout the homepage and content experiences and brings you the best of search and Bing’s advanced decision-making tools.
Combines the best of search and media content to deliver the most relevant content for you.

Information and News You Care About

We’ve reduced links on the page by half and removed the clutter to deliver a fresh new design with simplified navigation and improved performance.
In-line high-quality video, top news and hot entertainment from trustworthy sources including MSNBC, FOX Sports and Hulu.
The new MSN Local Edition provides you a home base online with the most comprehensive local news and information.

The Most Convenient Way to Communicate

Windows Live What’s New (including Yelp, Flickr and Pandora), Facebook and Twitter integrated directly into the home page
View and update your status in-line, tweet, and see what your friends are up to without jumping to multiple sites.

Want to learn about more updates as they become available? You should probably start following the MSN Team on Facebook and/or on their blog. So head out to http://preview.msn.com today and give it a whirl. I think you will like what you see.

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
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Microsoft expands Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) coverage and cuts prices!

2009-11-03T18:15:19Z

Access to technology and cost savings are topics that are very important to customers everywhere and the announcement by Microsoft’s Online Services Team yesterday helps serve up a lot of both of these for Partners and customers! When we first announced the availability of BPOS as a solution available to bring Microsoft technology to customers in an easy and cost effective way, there was great feedback and excitement about it. Yesterday’s announcement takes this even further by including two big items:

The BPOS trial offering has been expanded to 14 additional countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, and Taiwan) and in Singapore, they will launch the service commercially.
The price for Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite has been cut to as low as $10 U.S. per user/month and the individual services prices on many items have been cut as well!

This means that for as little as $10 U.S. per user/month, you can have access to the entire Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, which consists of:

If you have deskless workers, you can get the Business Productivity Online Deskless Worker Suite for only $3 U.S. per user/month, which consists of:

Microsoft Exchange Online Deskless Worker
Microsoft SharePoint Online Deskless Worker

To find out more, check out these resources:

Expansion of BPOS availability and price cuts announcement on the Microsoft Online Services Team Blog
Microsoft Press Pass announcement of these changes
Microsoft Online Services website

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Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
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Identity of the Windows 7 Upgrade “Hack” Revealed and more!

2009-11-02T16:00:00Z

Shortly after I published my Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know blog post, there was one particular statement that several people seemed to focus on. The statement in that blog post I am referring to is, “Over the past several days there have been various posts, etc. across a variety of social media engines stating that some “hack” shows that a Windows 7 Upgrade disc can perform a “clean” installation of Windows 7 on a blank drive from a technical perspective.” Shortly thereafter, many came to the conclusion that the “hack” was a person and began speculating (and even some actually going so far as stating as “fact”) who the “hack” is that I was referring to in that post.

As promised in my Answers from Windows 7 Upgrade Install Hack post coming on Monday post from this weekend, here is the post where I will reveal the identity of the “hack” that I was referring to in that post. This is one of the many answers to questions I am putting up on the blog throughout today and the week. As those of you that have followed my Blog for some time know, a lot of the posts here are based on questions I receive and topics of concern I see in the Partner community.

After my Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know blog post, there were a couple things I observed (and these are all important factors in how we got here and in the revealing of the “hacks” identity):

It appears “conspiracy-theorism” (yes, I know theorism is not in the dictionary) is very present
There appears to be a lot of reading through “pre-determined conclusion” lenses

Let’s start with the “conspiracy-theorism.” One theme that came up in several of the comments posted to my blog post, other blog posts, and other articles that came about from my blog post was, “Microsoft tries to make it hard for their customers/Partners,” or “Microsoft does not care about trying to help their customers/Partners be successful.” Really? I can assure you with 100% certainty that Microsoft is absolutely committed to working to improve the satisfaction and experience of all of our customers and Partners, which is the entire reason that the Customer and Partner Experience (CPE) effort that I left my former position at Microsoft to join in 2008 exists. Now does this mean that Microsoft has mastered all parts of it and that everything is rosy? Of course not (and no, contrary to several of the comments posted, I am not that blind to think they are). But know this, improving Microsoft’s customer and Partner satisfaction is a long-term, on-going journey that we are absolutely 100% committed to taking with you. Here are just two specific examples of this:

Just hours before my Windows 7 Upgrade post went up, Todd Weatherby, put his A new Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) Portal experience is coming soon. Give us your input post on my blog letting Partners around the world know that just as Allison Watson mentioned during WPC 2009, we are making significant improvements to our Microsoft Partner Network Portal based on input from our Partners to simplify your interaction with Microsoft and we are encouraging your input into this process. In that post, Todd calls out how all Partners around the world can give their input to us for this. If you haven’t taken this opportunity yet to provide your input on how to make your experience better, do so now.
With the launch of Windows 7, we have undergone numerous steps to not only improve the product, but also your experience with it and Microsoft. Let’s start with the sheer size of the beta, RC, and RTM trials we made available around the world so that Windows 7 could be the most tested Operating System possible to improve your experience with it. Or how about the the number of resources that the Windows 7 Team and others were putting into the market well in advance of the launch to help you get the most out of it? There’s the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to check your PC to see if it can run Windows 7. The collection of Windows 7 How To Videos to help you get the most from it. The Windows 7 Team Blog that brought you a wealth of information on Windows 7 up to and after the launch. Plus much, much more.

Now about those “pre-determined conclusion” lenses… It seems very apparent that many people commenting on my post, either directly on it or on any of the articles about it, figured they knew what it said even before reading it and/or did not completely read it before drawing their final conclusions or making their comments.

Just one example:

Several headlines show up stating, “Microsoft warns Windows 7 users that popular 'upgrade hack' is illegal,” then in numerous comments/emails, people state that I am telling them in my post that the processes published by (since they were called out specifically by readers, not me, in the comments) Ed Bott and Paul Thurrott cannot be used, are illegal to use, and/or should not be used or that I don’t get that either of these two are trying to help customers have a better experience. Really? Can someone please point that out to me? In my post I call out:
- “Technically possible” does not always mean legal.
- For you (those who have qualifying Windows licenses to upgrade from), since you have the previous version FULL Windows license and qualify for the Windows 7 Upgrade, you have the licensing rights to do a “clean” install.
- For those of you WITHOUT an existing FULL Windows license to upgrade from, you should be aware that an Upgrade license by itself is not a license to install and run Windows on your computer.
- People writing about these types of install solutions from an Upgrade disc should call out that in order to be legal, people need to have a qualifying license to upgrade from so that their readers do not misinterpret their articles/posts to say that because it is possible to do the install, then it is legal without the qualifying license to upgrade from.
- If the posts or write-ups you saw did include this information, then kudos to that writer for providing the accurate information.
Where in there did I state that the solutions proposed by either of these gentlemen cannot be used, are illegal to use, and/or should not be used? I flat out stated that if you own the right licenses, you can do the clean install, without calling out any procedure that can/cannot be used. Where did I state that either of them is not trying to help customers in their posted solutions?

So let’s get down to identifying the “hack,” I was referring to.

The “hack” is Ed Bott! Really? No, not really, regardless of how many people tried to convince you of that by making that claim since my post. In fact, just the fact that people implied that Ed Bott even could have been the person I was talking about shows that people did not read my post before jumping to their conclusions about what it was saying or they had their “pre-determined conclusion” lenses on when they did read it. As I said above, in my blog post I stated, “If the posts or write-ups you saw did include this information about needing the full license to upgrade from), then kudos to that writer for providing the accurate information.” Did you read Ed Bott’s post? If you had, you would have seen that Ed clearly states in his answer to the question, “So, does this mean I can install an upgrade version on a new PC I’m building?” Answer: “From a technical point of view, yes. But from a licensing point of view, absolutely not. The discounted price for an upgrade applies because you already paid for a license on the system you’re upgrading.”

Not only is Ed Bott not the “hack” mentioned in my post, but he is actually an example of what TO DO when posting information about this type of a workaround for clients. And this isn’t the first time Ed has done this either. How many of you read his, “The Vista license "loophole" that isn't,” post when this same issue arose about the double-install method with the Windows Vista upgrade media? Once again in that post, Ed calls out, “If you qualify for an upgrade license, this technique allows you to do a clean install, legally. If you don’t qualify for an upgrade license, then doing a clean install with this technique is technically possible but violates the terms of the license agreement.” He goes on even further to explain this to his readers. Personally, I would suggest that people posting about technical workarounds in the future, regardless of who they are, take a page from Ed Bott’s book of how to do it.

Ok, so if Ed Bott is not the “hack” I was referring to, then it must by Paul Thurrott! Really? No, not really. What did Paul Thurrott post that was factually inaccurate, intentionally misleading, or anything else that you would expect from a “hack”? Haven’t seen his post yet? Read it here. Paul does a step-by-step explanation in his post about how to execute the clean install and nowhere in the post does he tell people that this alleviates the need to be buy a full license of Windows 7 just because it works (unlike some others in the past, and currently have done). In fact, Paul, like Ed, is one of the people that many people have pointed to over the years as being one of the very helpful people in pointing out solutions to technical issues discovered.

Based on all of the speculation and cases of “opinionasfactitis” (pronounced: Opinion-as-fact-itis. You know, where someone states an opinion as a “fact” and then that “fact” continues to propagate as a “fact” like a contagious disease, in this case articles in tech publications/forums stating my post was calling out Paul directly), floating around, Paul obviously is/was of the opinion that I felt he was condoning piracy in his post or that I was stating he should not have published the information in his post based on his follow-up post.

In my opinion, no, Paul’s post is not condoning piracy and as stated above, nowhere have I said that either Ed’s or Paul’s posts shouldn’t be published or are condoning piracy. Yes, I do believe it would be beneficial if Paul had specifically called out in his post that this workaround does not alleviate the licensing requirements of the upgrade so that readers do not mistake his helpful post to be stating something to the contrary. Especially since there have been numerous comments on various blogs/forums and even articles written using Paul’s post as the “source” of this tip to get around the need to buy a full Windows license if you don’t qualify for the upgrade. So my only feedback on Paul’s original post is, would you mind including the quick few statements like Ed in your posts to eliminate all confusion on whether your post eliminates the need to be licensed properly so that these other people do not misinterpret your information that way? Because to answer the question posed in his follow-up post, while you would think that the line in the EULA that states, “To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade” that he quoted in that post would be obvious to understand, based on all of the comments and feedback of people stating the contrary about their impressions as they make their arguments, apparently it is not.

Before moving on, let me set the record straight. Ed and Paul, if either of you felt that my post from last week was implying that either of you are “hacks” or publicly condoning piracy, you have my sincere apologies here on public record, as in no way was that my intention. (In full disclosure, Ed and I did have a chance to connect directly on this over the weekend already; however, Paul and I have not)

So wait a minute… If Ed and Paul are not the “hacks” called out in the post, who is? Is it this guy that was listed by another online tech magazine as the target of my post? No, not him; however, I really do appreciate him going back and adding the following to his write-up just afterwards:

“Update: While it is not necessary to buy a full version of Windows 7 it is still a legal requirement to do so if you do not own a legal copy of either Windows XP or Windows Vista. The article did not make that completely clear.”

So then who is it? The “hack” I am specifically calling out in my post isn’t a “who,” it’s a “what.” A “what” you ask? Yes, a “what.” Take a look at the definition of “hack” in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (I know, because I did before my original post to ensure the wording I was using was accurate).

hack - a usually creative solution to a computer hardware or programming problem or limitation

The “hack” is any of the technical workarounds you see floating around (not any one in particular, it can be any of them out there that exist today or that come out in the future) that state that the Windows upgrade can physically be installed as a full product. Because let’s be clear, just as the title of my blog post says, “Regardless of what any hack (technical workaround) says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade.” And just like I have been saying for years, “Technically possible” does not always mean legal, so just because you “can” do it, that does not change any of the licensing terms or requirements. Just make sure you have the proper licenses first, as Ed Bott pointed out in his write-ups. Then as I said in my original post, “there are many, many, many, many of you out there that already own Windows licenses that qualify for the Windows 7 Upgrade, so this is a non-issue for you. That’s also why I called out that there are things you need to know (and those would be the licensing requirements listed in my original post).

So for anyone out there thinking my post was trying to “make an example” of someone as a “hack” or that I was calling someone specifically a “hack,” sorry to disappoint you. As I mentioned in the very beginning of this post, I have no doubt that “conspiracy-theorism” and “pre-determined conclusion” lenses had a lot to do with people coming to that conclusion. (Not to mention the “Opionionasfactitis” that was spreading rampantly) In all honesty, looking back, how many of you actually read my original blog post without any pre-determined notions as to what you already thought I was going to say, just because I chose the word “hack” in it vs. “technical workaround?” And those that had pre-existing notions of what I was going to say, how many of those were positive? People see the word, “hack,” mentioned by someone at Microsoft and quickly start to assume the negative side of it. Why?

As I said above, contrary to any beliefs out there, Microsoft is 100% committed to working with all of our customers and Partners to increase your satisfaction with our products and company. We know there are issues that need to be worked on and we are committed to working on them with you. For those of you that I have worked with for years, as I have always committed to doing in the past, I will continue to work to provide information and answers to address questions and concerns I see being raised and will continue to try to point you to where you can find the RIGHT answers to those questions. But to be clear, the RIGHT answer is not always the POPULAR answer; however, just giving the popular answer, if it is wrong, does no one any good anyway. Just like people trying to twist the solutions stated by Ed and Paul, that were designed to help address a technical challenge, to convince customers as being legal ways to “cheat the system,” does not change the real answer that an Upgrade is an Upgrade and you need a qualifying license to upgrade from. Whether I put up my post or not, the upgrade licensing requirements remain the same. But if putting up my post helped protect some customers from being told the wrong information by someone or helped clear up the questions for some of our Partners out there that service the needs of their customers on how this works, then it has served its purpose.

Also, after reading through the comments that I have seen on my blog post and in many of the articles and other publications on this topic, there are a few common themes I have been seeing that people seem most concerned with. Because of this, I will be putting up another post this week entitled, “Eric, I am soooo mad at you because” where I will try to address many of the themes and help answer and address these concerns, and some of them are very valid and very legit.

Note: One comment that continues to come up is that I am “avoiding” answering Microsoft’s procedure for the install. I guarantee you I am not avoiding it. I have submitted your various comments on this topic to the appropriate people for that topic and will be happy (believe me) to post the exact link to where you should go for this information as soon as I hear back.

As I noted over the weekend, I am going to be posting the answers to many of the questions I have received and continue to receive here on the Blog, so please keep the feedback and input coming. You can see many of these questions and answers posted here:

More Answers from Windows 7 Upgrade Install Hack post

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Bookmark on: MSDN , TechNet, and Expression

Are Beta, RC, and RTM codes full product licenses to upgrade to Windows 7 from?

2009-11-02T16:00:00Z

One of the questions I received from my Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know post, in addition to seeing this topic discussed by people in comments in several other places is, “I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta, RC, and/or RTM code for my computer so this qualifies me to use a Windows Upgrade license to get Windows 7 for my computer, right?” Here’s the answer to this question:

As you know, Microsoft often makes available the beta, Release Candidate (RC), or Release To Manufacturing (RTM) code available to people around the world to use on their computers for a limited amount of time. This serves several purposes, including giving people a chance to try out the programs before they are actually launched into the market and by allowing people to give us feedback on what they are experiencing with the product, such as issues, bugs, incompatibilities, features, etc. that our developers need to know about as they work towards the release of the final product. Beta and pre-release testers play a very important part in the software development cycle and their feedback to us is incredibly valuable. There is something very important to realize though about these versions of the products: Beta, RC, and RTM releases of the products do not include product licenses for the full/final release products. These are limited-time, trial code of the product.

If you remember the examples I gave in my previous post above:

So looking at the fact that Beta, RC, and RTM editions are just limited-time trials of the various products and do not include full/final product licenses, they would fall into the 2nd group shown here (Nothing + Upgrade License = Nothing). So, people with computers only having Beta, RC, or RTM versions of Windows on them would not qualify to use the Windows 7 Upgrade license to achieve having a full Windows 7 license (Again, an upgrade is just an upgrade and requires a full license to upgrade from).

Now, in order to make sure that my statement is not misunderstood, I am going to clarify even further. There are two categories of computers that people use the Beta, RC, and RTM code on:

1) Computers with Full Windows XP or Vista License Already (Click to view full size)		2) Computers without Full Windows XP or Vista License Already (Click to view full size)

For those people in group #1 above (computers with a Windows XP or Vista license already), you are eligible for the Windows 7 Retail Box upgrade since you do have a qualifying full Windows license (Windows XP or Windows Vista) for the Windows 7 Upgrade. Below is a visual of what you do/don’t have in this scenario:

(Click to view full size)

For those people in group #2 above (computers without a Windows XP or Vista license already), adding the Windows 7 Beta, RC, or RTM code to the PC does not make you eligible for the Windows 7 Retail Box upgrade since you do not have a qualifying full Windows license for the Windows 7 Upgrade. (Note: You do not have to download the Windows 7 Beta, RC, or RTM code to be eligible for the Windows 7 upgrade because it is the Windows XP or Vista license that qualifies you for the upgrade) Below is a visual of what you do/don’t have in this scenario:

(Click to view full size)

Now one of the comments that someone sent me via my Twitter account was that since the upgrade did physically install over the RTM code, they thought that meant that it must mean that the RTM code is a qualifying product for the Windows 7 Upgrade license to make it a full Windows 7 License. If you look at the first set of pictures above, you will see this is not the case. If you do not have a qualifying Windows license (XP or Vista) to upgrade from, the Upgrade alone is not enough to get you a Windows 7 license. The Beta, RC and RTM trial codes are not qualifying licenses as they are not full product perpetual licenses. They are just limited time trials of pre-release product. Remember, just because something can be done physically, this in no way means that makes it legal.

Hopefully this helps address this question for those of you out there that did wonder this or have seen mentions of this floating around somewhere.

As I noted in an earlier post, I am going to be posting the answers to many of the questions I have received and continue to receive from my Regardless of what any hack says, a Windows 7 Upgrade is an Upgrade. What you need to know post here on the Blog, so please keep the feedback and input coming. You can see many of these questions and answers posted here:

More Answers from Windows 7 Upgrade Install Hack post

Thank you and have a wonderful day,

Eric Ligman – Follow me on TWITTER and RSS
Global Partner Experience Lead
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

Bookmark on: MSDN , TechNet, and Expression

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